Amanda Seyfried has revealed she had to hire a bodyguard after critical comments made about Charlie Kirk.
The right-wing activist was shot in the neck and killed while speaking on stage at a university event in Utah on September 10 of last year. The death has prompted numerous media controversies, with TV show South Park and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel coming under fire for their views on the conservative figure.
At the time of his death, Seyfried commented on a tribute video, describing him as “hateful”. Following online backlash, she clarified her comments on Instagram, saying: “I can get angry about misogyny and racist rhetoric and ALSO very much against agree that Charlie Kirk’s murder was absolutely disturbing and deplorable in every way imaginable.”
Looking back on the incident in a new interview with British GQ, Seyfried stood by her initial comments. “A, I’m allowed to fucking voice my feelings, and B, do it in a way that’s not unkind necessarily,” she said. “But there’s just an outsized fear and hatred and impulse to bash and to tear down. And I experienced a very small fraction of that.”
She continued: “I want my kids to be able to feel safe to voice their opinions as long as they’re not harmful. So I’m like, ‘What do I do? What do I say?’ And then all of a sudden I find myself with a fucking bodyguard at the airport and I’m like, ‘This is crazy.’”
Last year, fellow Hollywood star Sean Penn also commented on the incident, remarking that he was “not surprised” by Charlie Kirk’s killing. “I’ve been worrying that this was coming” he told podcast host Louis Theroux.
Recently Seyfried revealed that she learned to play the entirity of Joni Mitchell’s album ‘Blue’ for a now-shelved biopic, saying that she “felt like a bona fide musician.”